FONTANA – Principal Victor Uribe stood outside Jurupa Hills High School on Tuesday morning with the sun at his back and Aug. 9 on his mind.

“I’m knocking on wood that we’re on time,” he said.

The campus crawled with workers laboring to finish the $124 million project before 900 ninth- and 10th-graders pour into its classrooms.

The school, paid for with funds from the $275 million Measure C general obligation bond passed by voters in 2006, has become a bright spot for officials who spend a lot of their time lately closing multimillion-dollar deficits and drawing up layoff notices to teachers and classified workers.

“You almost feel like you’re building the future,” said Cali Olsen-Binks, superintendent of the Fontana Unified School District. “It’s pretty exciting, because it affords us an opportunity to talk about kids and instruction.”

As the school’s freshmen and sophomores move up, the school will add grade levels and hopefully keep enrollment near 1,800 students, Uribe said.

Olsen-Binks joined Uribe and Melissa Bako, the school’s athletic director, for a walk through the campus, which sits on 45 acres at Oleander and Slover avenues south of the 10 Freeway.

Each of the school’s classrooms will be outfitted with six computers. An atrium in the middle of the campus is flanked by a 500-seat theater on one side and a cavernous gym on the other.

There is a room dedicated for a TV studio and a football stadium with a capacity of 4,000.

Olsen-Binks is well-aware that Measure C in all likelihood wouldn’t fly with voters in today’s economy and political climate.

“The timing was right,” she said. “When the bond passed, we were able to make good financial decisions.”

While the cost is estimated to be $124 million, officials said the actual price tag for the school may come in millions under that because of the economy.

“With the little downturn in the economy we’ve seen the bidding climate be more favorable,” said Dennis Nugent, executive director of facilities for the district. “Our bids did come in cheaper. We anticipate being about $15 million below (budget).”

The push for the bond included the need to alleviate crowding at campuses throughout the district.

“I don’t think anybody has any doubt Fontana High School was in need of relief,” Olsen-Binks said.

Officials hope to keep student enrollment under 2,500 at each of the district’s four high schools.

While Kaiser High School south of the 10 Freeway and Summit High School near the 210 Freeway in the north have about 2,500 students each, Fontana High is tops in the district with almost 3,800. A.B. Miller High School has an enrollment of 3,010.

Those transferring to Jurupa Hills High, including some from the Colton Joint Unified School District whose parents have petitioned to get in, should expect a school wired with the latest technology.